ACL plans re-entry into branded tea

TNNFeb 8, 2006, 12.12am IST

KOLKATA: After almost five years, Assam Company (ACL) is planning to enter the branded tea business once again. The company has firmed up plans to revive its Assam Gold brand. It had stopped producing branded tea back in '00.

Abhay Chawdhry, chief financial officer of ACL told ET: "Circumstances had forced us to stop producing branded tea. The volumes of branded tea had also gone down sharply.

Now, the trend shows that tea companies across the country are entering into value-added business." Besides bulk tea, ACL used to sell packet tea under brands like Regular, Jumbo and Premium and tea bags named Assam Gold.

ACL, the oldest tea company in the country, plans to sell CTC teas under the the Assam Gold brand. The company produces 16m kg of tea. The company has 16 gardens in Assam.